2023-09-11 03:53:00
Colombo: Sri Lankan President Renil Wickremesinghe will investigate the British channel’s allegations that Sri Lankan intelligence officers were involved in the 2019 Easter terror attacks.
For this, he said, a committee of inquiry chaired by a former judge of the Supreme Court and a parliamentary committee headed by a former attorney general would be formed. Then both the reports will be submitted to the Parliament for further action, he said.
The allegation was raised in the documentary ‘Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings – Dispatches’, which was broadcast by Britain’s Channel 4 television channel. According to the documentary, top officials, including Sri Lankan intelligence chief General Suresh Salla, were involved in the terrorist attack that killed 240 people, including 11 Indians.
It is also alleged that a planned move was made to bring about political change in favor of the Rajapakse brothers. The documentary also says that the terrorist attack favored Rajapaksa in the 2019 presidential election.
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense came out in support of the intelligence chief.
“Strongly condemns the allegations of planning the attack and assisting the bombers against a dedicated senior military officer who served the country for 36 years.”
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came out denying Suresh Salla’s role in the attack.
On Easter 2010, the National Tawheed Jamaat, an ISIS-linked terrorist group, bombed three Christian churches and a luxury hotel. The attack led to significant political change in Sri Lanka. It was later revealed that the then authorities had ignored intelligence information from Indian intelligence agencies about the terror attack.
The court ordered President Maithripala Sirisena and top police officers to pay compensation while hearing the fundamental rights petitions filed by relatives of those who lost their lives in the attack.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the head of the Catholic minority, accused all investigations so far of political vendetta.
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